~ Flitting from one thought to another * Letting an unleashed mind wander ~

On Moving On

“And so, my children, the time has come to close the book. There will be other days and other stories, but this tale is finished.”

How do you put an end to something you wish never ended? How could you close something you wish could stay open forever? How do you move on from something so perfect?

I consider books as one of my greatest treasures. I’d gladly choose some of my favorite novels over a handful of people I know. I’d give away my other possessions for the yellowed, rich-smelling pages of a good book. I’d choose buying books over food, and consider it money well spent, and feel myself sated and satisfied, yet hungry for more.

In fact, such was my life when I was younger. Some of the fondest memories of my childhood and adolescence were of the wondrous books I consumed while other children my age were scampering about on the streets. While my peers explored every mnuddy and dusty crack and device of the world around us, I was lost in a world where spectacular creatures made of fire and light and cold wind roamed free among men; where creatures great and small roamed a world filled with magical jewels; where men journeyed great expanses to seek immeasurable knowledge, insurmountable power, and even the gift of bringing a loved one back to life.

That love for whimsy and fantasy never faded, but my childhood and adolescence did. More and more did I spend my time in our ordinary world than I did exploring my other worlds. Time moved at a slightly different pace for me; life got in the way of living.

And now that life is claiming more and more of my flesh, I ask the spent, fading pages of my beloved books, my faithful childhood companions…

… How can I move on from the perfection of your words?

“And so, my children, the time has come to close the book. There will be other days and other stories, but this tale is finished.”

I feel that I won’t move on, but I will pass it on to my own children instead. My journey will continue through my bloodline, whom I will teach to read and consume and digest words, phrases, and sentences–bone, marrow, and sinew of thoughts and expressions. I will urge them to taste the same incomparable flavor of a life lived in different worlds that I have savored myself.